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"Oh, Christ..." he murmurs at the sight of the butchered corpse. "There's nothing we can do for her" he tells the others "She is dead" He gets up and pinches his frown, like he is having a sudden headache. "I...I have an idea of what happened here, though I hope I am wrong" He shows you all the markings in the floor, doors and furniture, leading to the office "Be careful. We probably should call for backup, this is beyond our experience"

Dr Luck, upon learning that she was dead and nothing could be done for her, stood, walked to the wall, leaned back against the wall and sank to his knees. There was a tear dropping down his face. He had lost. The pain of the loss would be with him forever. The woman was dead.

The question was why. Why had this woman been brutally attacked and killed? He didn' t know the answer to that puzzle, but he would find out. He could do nothing for the woman now save find out why she died.

He listened to the other members of his cabal.

Comment

Ouroboros Ophis
You manage to set aside your emotions to conduct a clinical postmortem analysis of the victim's wounds. You may not be a medical examiner by trade, but between your medical training and newfound understanding of the Death Arcanum, you begin to piece together an expert autopsy. Doing so has the unintended benefit of helping you to subdue your emotional distress by focusing on your professional training.

With your expert knowledge and keen eye, studying the body confirms that the victim passed away due to severe lacerations to her internal organs and blood vessels, including her aorta and lungs. Without more time and the proper equipment (or spell), you can't confirm for sure, but the most likely cause of death would be massive cardiovascular trauma combined with severe blood loss. She has a dislocated jaw with contusions around her mouth. Her arms, upper torso, and face have multiple lacerations as well, suggesting defensive wounds from a very strong and capable aggressor. Upon closer inspection, you can tell from the shape and coloration of her skin that some of the wounds were inflicted postmortem.

After inspecting the body, you start to inspect the immediate areas around the body and the rest of the house. Combined with the autopsy, you're able to piece together more parts of the puzzle here.

The lacerations on Jill's body appear to be from some kind of claw marks, such as from a large animal. There are similar marks all around the hallway and office, including the hallway wallpaper, the upholstery on a nearby chair, and the doorframe connecting the hallway with the office. Most marks are at or above your eye level, suggesting that the creature or person who made these marks was quite large -- larger than an average human. Jill's spine is snapped in the lower thoracic region, and her left femur is crushed; you know that it would take a great deal of strength to cause such injuries. All of your information points to a single but very powerful, aggressive assailant that Jill had no hope to face herself.

I'm giving you a lot of extra detail because both of those rolls were exceptional successes. You gain a positive Condition of your choice that fits the situation, such as Informed, Inspired, Steadfast, etc.

Simurgh
You open your Sight and let the scene wash over you. You quickly pick up the scents that you associate with living human beings, but none other than the ones you already recognize as your cabalmates. To your Spirit Sight, you see the thin greyish veil that stands as a barrier between this world and the Shadow. The Gauntlet is relatively thinner here than near the city, but not absent or razor-thin as it sometimes is when those Irises form around the Denver region.

At first blush, you don't immediately see or hear any spirits, so there aren't any manifested spirits here. You do, however, here whispers and scuttling sounds; looking closer reveals several small cloud-like spirits with dark red eyes in Twilight. The best way you can describe them is some kind of anger or blood spirits. You hear quiet undercurrents of angry, dissonant tones, suggesting a dark resonance of negative emotions. The spirits seem to be feeding on that resonance.

Dr. Luck and Spider

Still waiting for this from Spider, but you're both welcome to make Perception rolls (Wits + Composure) to try and learn more about the scene -- or do anything else to figure out what's going on.

Last edited by rwknoll; 09-12-2016, 08:04 PM.
Reason: Clarified that spirits are in the material world

The doctor goes near the sobbing writer and puts a hand on his shoulder-"It is ok, son. You did everything you could, no one could have saved her, is not your fault. Get up, we will need everybody with a clear mind and a keen eye to solve this. There is still much good you can do for that woman, even after her tragic demise"-he tries to cheer him up-"For what I could gather from the... body, she seems to have been attacked by a single, very big and strong animal. Were we living anywhere else I would have inmediately suggested a bear of some kind, but given our line of work... I think it was a werewolf. Some of the wounds are post-mortem, wich points to a state of frenzied aggression. If the creature is still around we could very well end up like this poor lady here."-He coughs and straightens his clothes-"Furthermore, I suspect our werewolf killer and the missing daughter could be one and the same. Note that she will be confused and afraid, and will need a lot of support. I am not sure if she will remeber any of this, and is probably best to avoid telling her".

"Thank you Ouroboros, I wanted the woman to be able to survive. If I knew more time magic it may have been possible. But unfortunately I arrived too late. Damn this angers me. But you are right, we must deal now with the cards we have been dealt."

Doctor Luck stands. He then looks around the room slowly looking for clues. He was looking for signs of a werewolf. The others were searching their own way, but Dr Luck used a blessing of luck to help him find clues to what he was looking for. It would only last for a short time, but it would make finding information on the werewolf much more likely.

"Son, I need you to do something if you think you can handle it. Do you think you could look into the past to see exactly what happened here, and perhaps where the attacker went? I understand if you are weary to see this horrible scene, so I will not press the issue, but it will be a great help"-he says to Dr.Luck, helping him stand up-"I will take a look trough the house, be careful"-he pushes Mana into his pattern, activating the Life Attainment that reinforces his skin and hones his reflexes and goes searching, following the trail of claw marks.

I'm So Meta Even This Acronym

Comment

When you Awakened several months ago, your world was turned upside down. Without knowing how or why, you pushed through the Lie and glimpsed Supernal truth. You traversed the Astral Realm and beyond, and your soul soared. No one who survives that trip returns the same as when they departed.

It wasn't long before another mage crossed your path. For some, like Marduk and Bruiser, it took only hours or days before another mage found you. When you look closely enough and follow the signs, newly Awakened mages are a blazing beacon of change. For others, like Dr. Luck, you had to take matters into your own hands. Or maybe you were first exposed to the harsh reality that there are even stranger things to roam the world than Supernal magic, like what Bad Dawg or Death Wolf saw.

Single whispers can bring empires crumbling down. One spark can set the world on fire.

That mage taught you about the Supernal realms, the Paths, and Arcana. Then you were introduced to the Pentacle, indoctrinated into the Order that matched your arcane vocational aspirations. You might have heard whispers now and then of another Order, the Seers of the Throne, a cult of mages bent on destroying the world, or so you were told. The conversation never lingered there.

Some of you pushed further, stretched your soul, crafted it to suit your whims until it shaped your entire experience of magic. And thus you joined your Legacy, your brotherhood.

For having Awakened only months ago, you have exceeded all expectations. You have a burgeoning reputation in the Denver Consilium for success; some have whispered rumors that you are Destined for greatness. And so it was only natural that your mentors encouraged you to form bonds of friendship and trust, to create a cabal of like-minded sorcerers so that you could pursue your own Mysteries and agendas.

You are the Watch Dogs. You listen, you search, and you hunt for Mysteries.

But something is changing in Denver. There's a sense of unease palpable in some places within the Shadow, and even in the Fallen World. Some of the more grizzled mages in your Orders are looking to the stars, their crystal orbs, and dreams, and seeing foretellings of death. The Uratha, the werewolves, growl and become increasingly intolerant of Supernal magic in their territories.

This morning, Marduk was contacted by a fellow théarch and colleague, an Acanthus by the name of Victory, with a possible lead on a developing Mystery worth exploring. One of her contacts, a Sleepwalker retainer by the name of Jill McCann, has an adorable 7-year-old girl, Sally, who enjoys art. Sally has suddenly started drawing pictures of "mommy, me, and my secret friend" -- with pictures including a vague, non-humanoid shape that Sally says can "do things while hiding and talk in funny languages." Around the same time, Bruiser heard from his mentor, Alexandros, with reports of unusual surges of ley line energy in the area where Jill lives, a rural community about half an hour west of Denver.

The cabal agrees to travel out to Jill's house, squeezing into Bad Dawg's Sonata and taking a brief excursion out of town. But when you pull up to Jill's house, you can already tell that something feels wrong...

You are the Watch Dogs. But what are you watching for now? And who, or what, might be watching you?

Comment

Everyone
After completing your morning rituals, routines, and preparations, you get into Bad Dawg's 2008 Hyundai Sonata and head out for a scenic drive west out of Denver. Jill's country home is about 20 or 30 miles west of the city, close to the Golden Gate Canyon State Park. You tried calling Jill before you left, but Victory already warned you that she has spotty cell phone service and a bad habit of not answering her home phone consistently, so you weren't surprised when she didn't answer.

After a relatively uneventful drive out to the rural Denver countryside, you pull into the driveway of Jill's home and notice that something feels wrong. You can't quite put your finger on it, and it's not supernatural by nature -- this isn't something you sense on your Periphery. But you feel uneasy as soon as you turn off the car engine and step out of the vehicle.

Time for your first rolls!

First, I'd like everyone to include in their first post a description of what you would do in the morning before gathering with the cabal. Assume that you left Denver around 10 am. For any spells you would have active, please make a roll for the spell as usual (see the OOC thread for some info about posting and rolling conventions).

Second, please roll Wits + Composure for a perception roll, remembering to take effects of merits and spells as usual for perception rolls.

Comment

Like on most days, Bruiser wakes up early for physical training, meditation, and practice of the arcane arts. Since initiating into the Perfected Adept Legacy, John had moved to a communal living area for Monks outside of Denver. He had given up most of his belongings, although they'd have to take his cell phone out of his cold, dead hands. It had been a hard adjustment at first, but he quickly learned that the solitude at the monastery influenced the resonance in the area and generated Essence that attracted spirits of calming presence and peace.

Getting up early for PT had never been a struggle for Bruiser, and it wasn't today, either. He allows the physical movement to become a metaphor for the chi coursing through his body, and chants in High Speech to further reinforce the movement of energy. Bruiser picks up his staff and beins to make a series of striking motions, flowing through the weapons katas as he was beginning to learn from the other Monks here.

After receiving the information about Jill and the possibility of a new Mystery to pursue, Bruiser texts or calls the rest of the cabal and arranges to meet up with them. He brings Zeus, his trusty partner, along as always. He scratches Zeus' head behind his ears, and the dog wags his tail happily as he sticks his head out of the car's window.

Once they arrive at Jill's home, Zeus whines quietly and his ears perk up. Bruiser tenses, studying the area closely. Channeling the chi within his body, he heightens his vision and hearing, trying to pick up on what Zeus seems to be sensing.

The alarmclock started beeping at 7 am, as it does every morning, prompting Stephen to get up and shower and groom himself, followed by a short breakfast. Until 8 am he is done with his normal morning routine, as he is every day. His rigid attention to schedule may seem excessive to others, but a hale soul dwells within an ordered mind in control of itself. Afterwards Stephen slips into a robe of midnight black and dons a crown wrought of iron he keeps inside a trunk secured with a padlock. His face relaxes and goes blank for a moment, then adopts a serious expression.

Marduk removes the rug in the center of his living room, revealing a black pentacle underneath. He picks up a piece of chalk and begins drawing arcane symbols entwining with the pentacle. Today he meditates on pride the downfalls it has caused him, drawing the appropriate Keys to focus his thoughts. Marduk then takes place in the center of the circle and begins to meditate, calling up memories of failure caused by overconfidence and arrogance. Images, thoughts, sensations and emotions of the past flick through his mind and he tries to assess them and more importantly his own failings calmly and objectivly.

This is a daily ceremony he keeps up, serving as a legacy oblation and to refresh the use of his Goetic Awareness attainment now and then (it lasts for a week). Since his mana is full anyhow I suppose we can say his Attainment has been refreshed today. Through his Goetic Awareness Marduk sees and can speak to any Spirit or Goetia in Twilight, feels any Manifestation conditions and can sense when someone he perceives fulfills either his Virtue or Vice.

About half an hour later he gets up, looses the crown and washes his face with clear water gathered from a brook up in the Rockies. He was proud of how far he had come, of his own ability, his own success. The Silver Ladder teaches its adherents that there is no such thing as hubris, that magic is humanities birthright. They are right, but the human mind is weak and easily turns the concept of right into a sense of false entitlement and complacency. He would have to ask Nemesis to witness his Rite of Castigation soon, a Key-Bearer could ill afford to let his pride swell so much. Just as he finished washing his face the phone rings. Victory. Leave it to the Witch to call at the best possible moment. he muses, thankful that his meditation was not disturbed. "Victory, what can I do for you?", he listens to her account of things. "Could be some sort of spirit that has slipped the Gauntlet... I'll look into it." He hangs up and ponders the situation for the moment. It's not the mystery that intrigues him, demons slip the gauntlet all the time, especially in Denver. But he will not abide one of them claiming a seven year old child. He deliberatly slows down his breathing for a moment to banish the anger in his heart. He will free the child because it is the right thing to do, not because an urge drives him. He's about to call the rest of the Watch Dogs when Bruiser rings him.

Before everyone squeezes into the car he asks everyone to take a moment and join hands for a protective spell. "When we go out there we should be prepared. It could be a spirit that has made contact with Sally and even if there isn't, out there is Wolf territory."

Everyone in the Cabal now has an Ephemeral Shield protecting them from Supernatural Powers or physical attacks by Spirits, Goetia or beings partly that such as Spirit Claimed or Werewolves.
Duration is one year, the Spell has a dicepool for clashes of wills of 10 (Gnosis 2 + Spirit 3 + Duration 4 + Advanced Potency 1).
Marduk takes one point of resistant bashing damage, I assume it will be healing during the car ride, so I didn't write it down in the header, please correct me should I be wrong.

Paradox seeps into the spell as he extends himself too far, but he commands it to stay away from the supernal truth he is weaving, intersecting his own soul as a shield between the spell and the Abyss. A slight trickle of blood drips out of his nose as the Abyss rakes his body. He squints in pain for a moment, then reasserts his composure and wipes away the blood with a tissue.

As they arrive at Jill's place he feels the tension in the ear. He lets the arrows get out first and uses the Time to build a quick Imago, removing the obstacles from his vision as he takes a look around.

He awakes in his normal state after a night of drinking, his head ponding and his mouth feeling like it is filled with cotton. He is what you would call a functioning drunk, someone that drink almost continuously throughout the day and he has learned to deal with the side effects of that drinking. Where others would feel woozy after a drink he feels right, others would get a headache he never lost his. Whatever the effects the alcohol has it seems to be less for him. He can still drink excessively and feel what others feel it is just that he continuously has alcohol in his system.

Oddly enough he actually gains mana after drinking as he is perusing an obsessive behavior from his legacy

This morning is no different, before his feet even hit the floor he finishes of the small amount of rum in the bottle. Opening the mini frig to grab a cold beer, pops the top and then walks over to the bathroom to relieve himself. He gets dress in whatever doesn’t offend too much from the cloths on his floor. He goes down to the kitchen and grabs the container of Corned Beed Hash from the frig, adds a little sriracha and mustard then finishes it off. Living alone has its benefits as no one touches his stuff.

Refilling his whisky flash he checks his messages and sees that there are several, one is from a Cabal member saying that there is trouble that we need to investigate. He grabs his gun and holsters in in his body holster and then puts the flask in his jacket pocket. So he gets into his car and goes over to where they are to meet.

As the other mages open the door to the car they are hit with a wall of stench that reeks of alcohol and smoke, he rolls down the window to give then some relief. On the trip up there he isn’t to talkative and he does have the radio on. Anyone that rides with him knows that when he is listening to music while others are around means that he doesn’t want to talk. As they arrive on site he gets this odd feeling in the pit of his stomach.

“Let me take a look first, if something is wrong I don’t need you mucking up the evidence before I can check it out. As part of his Legacy Attainment he activates his Matter Mage site along with his Forces and Prime. He will start to check out the scene.

What roll do you wish me to make to check out the place, I will roll that here when you let me know

There were no blinds so when the sun came up, Micheal Korn woke up. The clock showed him that it was 4 am. He swung himself out of bed and stood tall. He took a deep breath. He began his daily rituals. When he was presentable he walked down the stairs of his apartment and tried to ignore the mouse running from one side of the room at the bottom of the stairs to the other. He made himself a breakfast of sausage, eggs and buttered toast. He was hungry so he wolfed the food down. He walked to the living room to begin his daily blessing. It would take three hours of chanting and spellcasting to bless himself for the entire day, but he would do it. It was practice.

He spoke in the language of magic. Again and again he recited the ritual that would make him exceptionally lucky for 24 hours. He took his walking stick and tapped the ground while walking in circles until he felt a power coursing through him. It was the nature of luck that he wouldn't know if he succeeded or not. He would have to assume he did. He could almost feel the power of the spell coursing through him as if the imago of the spell fed him like a mother would feed a baby. After three hours he was tired. The spell was complete though. But the question he always asked was whether or not he was deluding himself. This was all so new to him.

It didn't feel right the first time. The aura that he thought surrounded him, making him lucky, felt wrong in a very strong way. The three hour ritual may have failed. It would have been better if he had more experience but his gut feeling told him he failed. He would try again. He was not sure if he truly failed, but it wouldn't hurt for him to try again. For another three hours he walked in a circle chanting and tapping the floor with his silver walking cane. He got the same bad feeling. He could not do a third ritual. He would try to use an instant spell and if that failed, he would give up. He wasn't even one hundred percent sure he failed. Maybe he succeeded and this was what it was supposed to feel like. He kept going using instant spells until he felt it was right. It was as if the world was telling him he was a master of Fate, he felt right. He felt lucky.

It is seven oclock and Michael begins to write. He has a movie in his mind that he translates onto the computer screen to that others can enjoy it. The more he writes, the more he enjoys what is written. It is an urban fantasy story of a young man who wakes up one day as a mage. The mage can shoot fire from his hands and turn invisible and so much more. He is sixteen chapters into the book, well over thirty thousand words. He long ago decided to self publish his work. He received a phone call and his writing session is cut short. He wanted to do two chapters today. He is a morning person.

He applies the expression (writing) to his writing if that's OK.

Michael, or Doctor Luck as he is known in the mystical world leaves his run down, roach and mouse infested apartment, climbs into his ancient volkswagon bug and drives to the cabal's meeting place. He got the text message as he was walking into the headquarters. The team mobilized and Doctor Luck almost got into a car that reeked of alcohol. He couldnt take the smell so he took his old car that was barely running. Jill and her daughter Sarah could need their help and the cabal was on its way.

Comment

Everyone
You each strain your ears and scan the area, trying to listen or watch for anything that might seem out of the ordinary. That's when you notice that you don't see any movement or hear anything in the immediate vicinity. Despite the fact that you're basically in the middle of the woods, there doesn't seem to be any movement or ambient sounds at all, other then Zeus' quiet panting and sniffing at the ground.

Bad Dawg
You instinctively scan the scene with your Awakened Sight under ther purview of Matter. At a glance, you can see precisely how well your cabalmates maintain their weapons and how effective they might be in a fight. More importantly, by studying the interactions between compounds and materials, you observe structural damage in Jill's front door. Now that you look more closely, you can see that the solid wooden door is slightly ajar, and the wood immediately around the door knob and deadbolt is warped, as if kicked in.

You take a deep breath in, and through the lens of Forces, you smell the crackle of ozone that indicates electricity still running through this home. Under the gaze of Prime, you see a glow of bright energy surround Bruiser's eyes as the other man studies the scene, an Attainment effect you've seen him use before. You see no other spells here except for those surrounding your cabalmates.

You may make a Wits + Investigation roll as an instant action, with +2 from your Time Arcanum due to your Legacy Attainment.

Bruiser graciously accepts Marduk's offer for protection, and grins in reply. "Thanks," he offers genuinely. "Works for me. One less spell I'll need to maintain for now."

At the scene, he again nods and lets Bad Dawg move towards the house first. He knows that the Querent is better at these sorts of puzzles, but he doesn't sit by idly. Bruiser briefly opens his senses to the Primal Wild and, since joining the Perfected Adepts, his enhanced connection to the Prime Arcanum. "Odd," he muses aloud, primarily looking to Marduk. "The Gauntlet is thinner here, but not a spirit in sight. Let's be careful." Frowning at the woods and the house, he silently unholsters his firearm and clicks off the safety, nodding at Bad Dawg.

Anyone looking with Spirit Sight will see that the Gauntlet is currently strength 2, and that there are no spirits within the immediate vicinity in Twilight or Manifested. Bruiser will turn off Active Sight again to conserve time in Mage Sight this scene.

Casting Speak with Beasts to gain a +3 bonus on Animal Ken rolls with dogs for the remainder of the scene.

Bruiser holds his dog tags in one hand and silently presses his Awakened will on the world. As his spell settles, he "speaks" in a series of quiet barks and yips, "Follow me and be as quiet as possible. There might be danger inside."

But Zeus' ears suddenly perk up, and without warning, he dashes towards the house. The dog barks and growls, as if calling for Bruiser and the cabal to follow. "I think I heard something! Let's go!"